Who Says?
by fangirl for days
Summary: Inspired by the song Who Says? by Selena Gomez, the gist of this story is about bullying, cyber-bullying, demeaning comments, racism, and much more. The Keepers all have to deal with it at some point in their life and have to overcome all the negativity. Bullying is a serious thing, and hopefully the message is passed through this story.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey so this chapter does use offensive terms, swear words, and themes based on society nowadays, so if you get easily offended don't read this chapter.**

* * *

Maybeck looked at his small clay figurine proudly, grinning in triumph on how it came out. When he put the small gray Mickey Mouse shaped clay in the kiln, he had expected it to break from an air bubble. Being an experienced artist, of course there were no air bubbles. Once it was painted, it had looked like a professional created it. Seriously, he could sell his work on Etsy and make tons of money for it (he even thought about it once). The detail in the delicate sculpture was breath-taking, and he put it in the window of Crazy Glaze next to a Minnie Mouse one of the same style. The Mickey and Friends collection was almost finished, he just needed to make a Donald Duck figurine, which was harder than he expected. He wasn't sure if he should make the duck angry or...-

"Hey, fag." The bell on the door rang, and 3 of the Evans High football jocks walked in. They wore their letterman jacket, the air around them seemed cocky and conceited, to make it worse the overwhelming scent of Axe hit Maybeck's nostrils (making him want to gag).

"Welcome to the Crazy Glaze. We have a special today, 20% off when you bring two arrogant friends." Maybeck said with fake politeness, wiping his hands on the dirtied apron he wore.

Caleb Lee snickered, "wow, very creative of you."

The other two boys chimed in with "Yeahs" and "So creative", fist bumping afterwards.

"Ah well, I try. But right now three fuckboys are clouding my creativity bubble and I'm choking on the scent. Seriously, Axe attracts no one." Maybeck began heading to the back to get away from the blonde.

"Hey guys, what do you think Charlene Turner wants with this _monkey_? Can't she tell he's a _fag_?" Caleb sneered, speaking loud enough for Maybeck to hear.

The other two smirked in response, seeing the African-American boy freeze.

"Yeah, dude. He'll be a high school dropout sooner than we know." Aiden remarked, the shorter brunette of the three, nonetheless cruel.

"And killed by the police." James laughed, him and Aiden fist-bumping once again like the belittling idiots they were.

Maybeck shrugged them off the best he could, continuing his walk to the back, careful not to let them see how much their words had affected him.

* * *

Terrence Maybeck wasn't once to cry, the only time he had was when his Aunt Jelly was Tasered. Though, now was a different story. He sat on his twin sized bed, which was too small for his 6'5" build, tears streaming down his face.

 _Monkey,_ they called him.

 _High school dropout_

 _fag_

 _going to be shot by the police_

Sure, he's dealt with discrimination towards him, but nothing so flat out blatant like what happened just an hour ago. Maybeck wiped his eyes, trying to push the thoughts to the back of his mind. _They're homophobic and racist, why should I care? I have very good friends who think of me differently_. After two hours, he gave up on desperately trying to forget about the criticism and called the first person he thought of.

* * *

Willa Angelo, a small girl filled with rage showed up in her best friend's bedroom, glaring. "Who the hell in their right mind would even _think_ of those harsh words?! I would love to meet those guys, surely I could rough 'em up."

Maybeck smiled weakly, "your enthusiasm is great, Wills...it's just that...-"

"What? I get it, I'm small. But I could tear them in half, if I wanted to." A breather, then, "I think you should do it yourself."

"I'm not going to tear them apart. It's three against one and if I did, I'd be getting in trouble." He sighed softly, sitting on the edge of his bed, prompting Willa to sit beside him.

"Who in their right minds uses the 'f' word as an insult? Or degrading racial slurs? Or brings up police brutality?" The fiery feminist ran a hand through her hair. She may be more upset then he is, just a tad

"Trump supporters." He answered, causing them both to share a small laugh.

There was a comfortable silence for a while before Maybeck sighed and asked:

"Do you think I'm any of those things?"

Willa stood abruptly, "what? Of course not!" She shook her head, "I would never use a racial slur against you. And if you were gay, I wouldn't care at all. And police brutality is a serious thing. Black people are being oppressed and...ugh! I could go on forever with that topic!"

"They also called me a high school dropout." He pointed out, "do you think I could be a dropout and end up working at McDonald's?"

She bit her lip gently, "No. You have a good future ahead of you, Terry. Money from the DHI program for college, you're an incredible artist, and pretty smart if you ask me."

"That means a lot to me, especially coming from one of the smartest people I know." He grinned cheekily at her.

"Oh shut up and come hug me you big dork."

He shrugged, engulfing her in a bear hug until she cried out. "Terrence! I'm suffocating here!"

He laughed softly, pulling back. "Thanks, Willa. You helped me feel a lot better. I'm glad about that cuz I absolutely hate sulking."

She smiled genuinely at him, "it's no problem, dude."

* * *

After a few weeks, the harassment had gone on. Caleb, Aiden, and James were harshly relentless, and Maybeck simply did nothing about it. His talk with Willa had assisted him to realization that he was so much more than those derogatory terms thrown about him.

"Whattup faggot?" Caleb greeted him during Chemistry.

Maybeck continued to work on his lab, ignoring Caleb. He just wanted attention, almost like he wanted to be punched.

"Hey, _nigger_ , answer me when I ask you a question."

Maybeck's head snapped up to him, "what did you just call me?"

"You heard me." Caleb smirked a little, winning attention from the artist.

"I've been ignoring you for three weeks, if you haven't realized. You've just crossed the line, Caleb." He growled, his eyes darkening.

"Try anything and I'll have you hung on the pretty tree in the front of the school."

"Are you fucking stupid? We aren't living in the 1800s, and I certainly should not be treated like it is."

"And what are you doing to do? Tell on me?" Caleb sneered, closing in on Maybeck.

"You'll see." He shoved him back, "go before I beat the shit out of you."

The last sentence seemed to make the so-called tough football player skittish, so he backed away back to his lab table leaving Maybeck to sit at his table, seething.

* * *

"How's your day been?" Charlene asked her boyfriend as he sat down next to her for lunch.

"It's been a downward spiral of racial slurs."

"From who?" She rose an eyebrow, concern growing immediately.

Maybeck shrugged it off, like it was nothing. "Caleb. And a few of his friends. It's alright though, I'm not bothered by it." he lied.

"Did you tell the dean?"

"Yep."

"And?"

"And nothing. They're not going to get in trouble, Char. You know since its land of the free, only if you're white or a guy though." He said, beginning to drink his water. "I'll get back at them though. Without getting in trouble."

Charlene frowned. "If it gets worse tell me. I'll do something. I don't know what yet but...I will. I swear on it."

* * *

Later that week, Maybeck had slipped a picture in Caleb's locker. It was a painting of two black males kissing and on the back, Maybeck wrote in cursive:

 _two "niggers" just being "fags" hope you enjoy this, dear._

 _xoxo,_

 _Maybeck (your fellow gay black friend)_

And he laughed upon seeing Caleb's enraged face. _Suck on that_ , he wanted to say. Oh, he had more drawings to stuff in his locker; all in due time of course. Revenge was indeed sweet.

* * *

 **so this was deep. I hope it didn't offend you, as I was just showing how cruel kids could be. Sure it might be over exaggerated, personally though I like Maybeck's form of revenge. Of course it'll be continuous with different drawings though, every week. Tell me how you liked it and PM for ideas :)**

 **~fangirl for days**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Strong language, don't read if you get offended.**_

* * *

Willa Angelo was a tough shell to crack, everyone who's close to her knows that. Ever since 8th grade when she became a Kingdom Keeper, she's dealt with online hate. The Keepers got popular quickly, undoubtedly they all made social media accounts. Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and FaceBook (they rarely use that anymore as Maybeck said, "FaceBook is the new MySpace."). Upon entering Edgewater High, life became a whole different story; the AP school proved to be a challenge not just class wise.

No matter where you went, there was cowardly bullies. Even in a school full of nerds, there was a ranking of losers to populars. It didn't make much sense, yet that's how high school went.

On social media, tons of cyber bullying went on. You didn't have to see it to know it was there. Willa firsthand experiences cyber bullying, every day. Normally, she would just block the accounts, but didn't want to give the people behind their cellphones satisfaction. She let the comments stay on her photos, unbothered by it. Well, almost unbothered.

* * *

Kennedy Roberts, a vicious, spineless, girl was behind all of the hurtful attacks against Willa. She was a soccer player at Edgewater, and barely passing her classes. Her parents wanted her to get the best education, so they practically bribed the school. The motive of these comments; she really wanted to Willa-smart.

 _"Stop being such a slut,"_ she left underneath a picture that Willa had posted of herself and Charlene. She was wearing shorts and a shirt that showed the tiniest bit of skin on her flat stomach.

 _"Maybe if you weren't Chinese or a whore, he would actually love you,"_ Kennedy typed under a picture of Philby kissing Willa's cheek, Willa had posted for their one year anniversary. That one outraged all of the 12 year old Wilby shippers, and they all said stuff to Kennedy like:

 _"Your just jelos of her."_

 _"lol she's Indian & Native American u uncultured swine!"_

 _"youre a hore."_

She would snicker and say, _"Aw Isabella, it's so nice to know you have a bunch of 11 year olds supporting you."_

Willa did her best to ignore it, but Kennedy grew constant. Under every picture there would be a comment, though Willa was determined to not block her. She didn't want Kennedy to think she won whatsoever. Instead, she tweeted:

" _KennedyRoberts Say it to my face."_

* * *

Then her life was a living hell, a few weeks after that tweet Kennedy always found ways to get under Willa's skin. Sometimes she didn't even want to go to school, as her self confidence level had shrunk to almost nothing. Her hardened mold was deteriorating unnoticeably.

Willa sucked in a breath and headed into the bathroom, locking herself in a stall, sobbing silently. Hurt and naseau pulsed through her. The star soccer player was out to get the DHI. The bell rang, however she stayed in the small confined area, sniffling.

That's when Dell Philby knew something was wrong. Never ever had his girlfriend skipped class. And quite frankly, there was something off about her lately; maybe it was her grades lacking from 100s to 80s. He should have asked what was wrong two weeks ago when he noticed something off, though for some reason, like the idiot he was, he decided nothing was wrong. Willa was strong enough to speak up, right?

* * *

Either way, word had spread between the Keepers (Amanda and Jess too) about Philby's concern and Finn decided to take the situation by the reins. Immediately after school, Finn went to Willa's house let in by her brother.

"Hey, Willa." Finn greeted, standing at the doorway of her bedroom.

Willa looked up from the book her nose was buried in. "Hey, there. Wasn't expecting you."

"I texted you." He shrugged.

She then took her phone and turned it on, chuckling a bit. "Oh well I see that now."

"Yeah." He smiled a bit and walked in, sitting down next to her. "Hey, uh, is something wrong? I heard you skipped class today..."

"Oh." Willa bit her lip, looking down at the cover of her book, unsure if she should tell him or not. "I'm alright..."

"If you want to talk about anything, I'm a good listener, Wills." He said softly, usually the tone that makes the brunette comfortable.

They had a brother and sister relationship, which made it hard for Willa to sit there and lie.

"I'm not okay, Finn. I've been being bullied by Kennedy Roberts. First it was cyber bullying, which really didn't bother me at first. I mean, it just means you're being a coward. Saying stuff behind a computer screen doesn't make you tough, j-just stupid...-" her voice cracked, causing her to bury her face into Finn's shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay." he whispered, wrapping an arm around her.

"I told her to s-say it to my face...and she does!" Willa said, beginning to shake a bit. "And I don't want to go to school anymore. I just want to stay home and cry. She t-told me I should kill myself. A-and that I don't deserve to live."

"Willa, that's awful. Nobody should be talking to you like that. You have to stand up for yourself." He said, rubbing her back lightly.

"I know. B-but I just get so _scared_. It's like my anxiety goes on overload and I can't do it." Her voice was still small as she wiped her eyes, not wanting to cry anymore.

"Yes you can. You just have to take deep breaths and hit her where it hurts. You're smart, beautiful, and strong, I know you can do it." Finn encouraged her, his arm still draped around her in a brotherly manner.

* * *

"Hey, slut." Kennedy giggled innocently as she leaned against the locker next to Willa's.

Willa rolled her eyes, "what do you want?"

"Oh, so you speak? I thought the only talking you did was over Twitter." Kennedy paused before looking at the lunchbox in the shorter girl's hand. "Whatcha have there? Rice? Chopsticks, too?"

She sighed, "That's racist. Trust me, hon, it's much better than whatever bland chicken fingers you have for lunch."

"Ouch, that's harsh." Kennedy said sarcastically, opening her mouth to make another remark at Willa though quickly interrupted by her saying:

"You know, Kennedy? It must be _so_ hard to be _so_ dumb. After all, your parents had to practically beg the school to let you in here. Good luck trying to get anywhere in life when you're barely passing high school and calling others that are so-called 'below you' sluts. Not to mention you harassed me, and many others, online. Your life must be sad since all you do is sit behind a keyboard and type out hurtful messages." Willa slammed her locker and walked off.

She left Kennedy standing there like a fish, her mouth gaped open, almost struggling to breathe. With a huff, she stomped away, never tormenting Willa again.

* * *

 **So what'd you think? Please leave a review and/or follow and fave? Constructive criticism is welcomed and PM any ideas?**

 **~fangirl for days**


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